Refrigeration



Feb. 6, 1934. Q G, MUNTERS v 1,945,975

REFRI GERATI ON Filed Dec. l2, 1929 .v 5 j 1- .r ,s ,vf

#JA oRNEY Patented Feb. 6, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REFRIGERATION Application December 12, 1929, Serial No. 413,438, and in Sweden March 2, 1929 9 Claims.

My invention relates to the art of accumulating and transferring heat and more particularly to the art of heat transfer as applied to refrigeration.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide means whereby heat may be transferred from the chamber to be cooled, such as a refrigerating cabinet, to an intermediate medium where this heat is stored until such time as another, or ultimate cooling medium, Vis available at a lower temperature than that of the intermediate medium. The ultimate medium will ordinarily be the atmosphere, which in many countries and localities is often Well below freezing during the winter months. However, other cooling mediums than the atmosphere may be employed.

A further object of my invention is to provide an apparatus for obtaining the above results Without the use of any moving parts. Such an apparatus will endure permanently whereas one employing moving parts would eventually wear out and would be apt to get out of order at any time.

Further objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection Vwith the accompanying drawing which forms a part of this specification and on which:

Fig. 1 is a more or less diagrammatic View, partially in cross-section, of a preferred embodiment of my invention; and

Fig. 2 is a more or less diagrammatic view, partially in cross-section, of a slightly modified embodiment of my invention.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1, reference character 10 indicates generally a house or similar structure. Within house 10 is placed a chamber to be cooled indicated by reference character 11. Chamber 11 may be any preferred form of a refrigerating cabinet and is provided with heat insulated walls 12 of cork board or the like. Within chamber 11 is the lower end of a heat transfer member 13, which lower end is preferably in the form of a coil 14 in order to obtain a greater heat transfer surface.

Heat transfer member 13 extends from within chamber 11 to within an intermediate chamber 14', where it is made in the form of a coil 15. That portion of heat transfer member 13 which is between chambers 11 and 14 is provided with suitable insulation 16 to prevent transfer of heat to the member from the surrounding atmosphere. A valve 17 is placed in member 13 and may be regulated by hand. Thus it will be seen that heat transfer member 13 comprises a conduit closed at each end and thus completely sealed. Member 13 is partially filled with a suitable volatile fluid, such as methylchloride.

Intermediate chamber 14' consists of a tank or 60 the like and is provided with heat insulating material 18. The lower end of a second heat transfer member 19 extends within chamber 14' and is there made in the form of a coil 20. The other end of member 19 protrudes through the 65 roof 21 of the house and is likewise made in the form of l a coil 22. The portion of heat transfer member 19 between` chamber 14' and coil 22 is preferably heat insulated and a packing 23 is provided Where the member extends through the roof in order to prevent leakage therethrough of rain or melted snow. A

A hand operated valve 24 is also provided in the intermediate portion of member 19. Coil 22 is preferably placed within a ue 25 which is open 75 at the top and provided with openings 26 near the bottom so that air may circulate freely around the coil while at the same time the coil is protected from the direct rays of the sun.

Heat transfer member 19 is likewise hermeti- 80 cally sealed and partially filled with a suitable volatile fluid. This fiuid may be the same as that contained within heat transfer member 13. Intermediate chamber 14' contains a congealable fluid such as water or brine, and the fluid within member 19 is such that it will be vaporized at the temperature at which the water or brine freezes and melts. AChamber 14' should not be completely filled so as to allow room for the expansion of the fluid therein when it freezes.

The operation of this form of my invention is as follows:

Assume that water has been placed in4 chamber 14' and has been frozen to ice as will be described later. In order to maintain chamber 11 at the 95 desired lower temperature and to refrigerate articles placed therein it is necessary to remove heat from this chamber. This heat is absorbed by the liduid contained in coil 14 and heat transfer member 13 and causes the vaporization of 100. this liquid. The vapor thus formed passesup- Wardly through member 13 to coil 15 where it is condensed to liquid and ows back to coil 14. The heat that was removed from the vapor in coil 15 in order to effect this condensation 105 is taken up by the ice within chamber 14' and t causes some of this ice to melt. However, the contents of chamber 14' will remain at the same temperature, namely, that of melting ice, as long as there is any ice left. This process of trans- 110 ferring heat from chamber 11 to chamber 14' the water contained in chamber 14'.

The heat present in the water in chamber.

14 at its freezingtemperature will cause the vaporization of the liquid in coil 20 and heat transfer memberV 19. 'Ihe vapor thus formed will pass to coil 22 where it will remain in vapor form until such time as the temperature of the air around coil 22 or other ultimate cooling medium shall drop to sufliciently low value, which must be several degrees below the freezing point of the liquid contained in chamber 14. When this occurs the vapor within coil 22 will be condensed and the heat liberated by this condensation will be carried away by the air circulating through ue 25. The vapor thus condensed in coil 22 will ow back to coil 20 where it will be vaporized again and thus remove more heat from the liquid contained in chamber 14'. This transfer of heat from the liquid in chamber 14 to the outer atmosphere will continue to take place until the liquid is completely frozen.

Ihe two vaporization-condensation members 13 and 19 may be said to be one-way heat transmission elements since they carry heat upwardly but not downwardly. If the temperature of coil 22 is higher than coil 20, no or substantially no heat willflow through member 19 from coil 22 to coil 20. Likewise, if coil 15 is at Yhigher temperature than coil 14, no or substantially no heat will llow through Amember 13 from coil 15 to coil 14. It may be said that these vaporization-condensation members transmit heat one way, but not the opposite Way, and transmit cold one Way, but not the opposite way, the transmission of cold and heat being in opposite sense since cold is merely'a removal or absence of heat.

If chamber 14' has a capacity of 200 gallons or more and water is the liquid contained therein, its latent heat will be suliicient to absorb from 30 to 40 calories per hour for a period o f nearly four months. This rate of heat removal from chamber 1l is suicient to maintain therein a temperature not exceeding 45 degrees F. provided the chamber is properly insulated.

Thus it will be seen that during the summer months heat may be continuously removed from chamber 11 and stored Within chamber 14' and that during the Winter months this heat will be transferred from chamber 14' to the atmosphere. Valve l' makes it possible to regulate the rate of passage of vapor through heat transfer member 13 and thus to regulate the temperature maintained within chamber 11, While valve 24 makes it possible to regulate the rate of vapor passage through heat transfer element 19 and thus to regulate the rate of freezing of the fluid within chamber 14'. Thus chamber 14 and the large body of congealable liquid contained therein may be said to constitute a cold accumulator.

In Fig. 2 is shown a modified embodiment of my invention wherein the chamber 1l to be cooled is placed in direct thermal relationship with the liquid Within intermediate vessel 14'. This liquid is frozen by the aid of heat transfer element 19 during the winter months in the same manner as that described in connection with Fig. l. Heat is transferred directly to this liquid from chamber 11 without the interposition of another heat transfer element, such as element 13 of Fig. l.

While I have shown and described preferred embodiments of my invention for the purpose of description and illustration, it is to be understood that modifications thereof fall within the scope of my invention, which is to be limited only by the appended claims viewed in the light of prior art.

What I claim is:

1. Inja refrigerating apparatus, in combination, a chamber to be cooled, means to store heat, a rst heat transfer element comprising a stationary closed conduit containing a volatile fluid and having one end in said chamber and the other end in heat exchange relation with the storage means and a second heat transfer element comprising a stationary closed conduit containing a volatile fluid and having one end in heat exchange relation with the storage means and the other end in heat transfer relation with an ultimate cooling medium.

2. Refrigerating apparatus comprising a cold accumulator, said cold accumulator comprising an insulated vessel containing a relatively large body of congealable homogeneous material, a stationary vaporization-condensationv member having its upper portion submerged in said body and its lower portion in heat exchange relation with the medium to be cooled, and a second stationary vaporization-condensation member having its lower portion submerged in said homogeneous body and its upper portion exposed to the atmosphere.

3. Refrigerating apparatus comprising a cold accumulator comprising a vessel containing a relatively large quantity of congealable material, a refrigerator member insulated from said cold accumulator, a stationary one-way heat transmission element having a portion in heat exchange relation with said cold accumulator and another portion in heat exchange relation with said refrigerator member, said one-way heat transmission element permitting flow of heat from the refrigerator member to the cold accumulator, but substantially preventing flow of heat therethrough from the cold accumulator to the refrigerator member, and a second stationary one-way heat transmission element having a portion in heat exchange relation with said cold accumulator and another portion in heat exchange relation with an ultimate cooling medium, said second one-way heat transmission element permitting flow of heat from the cold accumulator to the ultimate cooling medium, but substantially preventing flow of heat therethrough from said ultimate cooling medium to the cold accumulator.

4. Refrigerating apparatus comprising a cold accumulator comprising a vessel containing a relatively large quantity of congealable material, a refrigerator member insulated from said cold accumulator, a stationary one-Way heat transmission element having a portion in heat exchange relation with said cold accumulator and another portion in heat exchange relation with said refrigerator member, said one-way heat transmission element consisting of a tubular member partially lled with a volatile fluid and permitting flow of heat from the refrigerator member to the cold accumulator, but substantially preventing flow of heat therethrough from the cold accumulator to the refrigerator member, and a second stationary one-way heat transmission element having a portion in heat exchange relation with said cold accumulator and another portion in heat exchange relation with an ultimate cooling medium, said second one-Way heat transmission element consisting of a tubular member partially enea with?, voiatue uuid and permitting fiow of heat from the cold accumun lator to the ultimate cooling medium but substantially preventing flow of heat therethrough from said ultimate cooling medium to the cold accumu later.

5. The method of cooling a body to be cooled by a natural ultimate cooling medium such as the atmosphere having variations of temperature running below and above the range of desired temperatures for the body to be cooled which comprises condensing a volatile fluid by said medium when the temperature of said-medium is below such desired temperatures, vaporizing said fluid in heat exchange relation with a relatively large amount of substantially stagnant storage material to absorb heat from said storage material, accumulating cold in said storage material, maintaining an accumulation of cold in said storage material while the body to be cooled is of lower temperature than said storage material, thereafter condensing a second volatile fluid by the cooling effect of said storage material when the temperature of the body to be cooled is above the temperature of said storage material, and vaporizing said second volatile fluid in heat ex change relation with the body to be cooled to transfer accumulated cold thereto.

6. Thelmethod of cooling a body to be cooled by a natural ultimate cooling medium such as the atmosphere having variations of temperature running below and above the range of desired temperatures for the body to be cooled which comprises condensing a volatile fluid by said me diuzn when the temperature of said medium is below such desired temperatures, vaporizing said fluid in heat exchange relation with a relatively large body of substantially stagnant homogeneous storage material to absorb heat from said storage material, accumulating cold in said storage material, maintaining an accumulation of cold in said storage material while the body to be cooled is of lower temperature than said storage material, thereafter condensing a second volatile fluid by thel cooling effect of the storage material when the temperature of the body to be cooled is above the temperature of the storage material, and vaporizing said second volatile fluid in heat exchange relation with the body to be cooled to transfer accumulated cold thereto.

7. The method of cooling a body to be cooled by a natural ultimate cooling medium such as the atmosphere having variations of temperature running below and above the range of desired temperatures for the body to be cooled whichl tion with a relatively large body of substantially stagnant congealable storage material to absorb heat from said storagematerial and accumulate cold in said storage material by utilizing the heat of fusion of the congealable material, accumulating cold in said storage material, maintaining an laccumulation of cold ,in said storage material while the body to be cooled is of lower temperature than said storage material, and transferring cold from said storage material to the body to be cooled when the temperature of the body to be cooled is above the temperature of said storage material.

8. The method of cooling a body to be cooled by a natural ultimate cooling medium such as the atmosphere having variations of temperature running below and above the range of desired temperatures for the body to be cooled which comprises condensing a volatile fluid by said medium when the temperature of said medium is low, vaporizing said fluid in heat exchange rela.- tion with a relatively large body of substantially stagnant congealable storage material to` absorb heat from said storage material and accumulate cold in said storage material by utilizing the heat of fusion of the congealable material, accumulat-n ing cold in said storage material, maintaining an accumulation of cold in said storage material while the body to be cooled is of lower temperature than said storage material, thereafter condense ing a second volatile uid by the cooling effect of said storage material when the temperature of the body to be cooled is above the temperature of said storage material, and vaporizing said second volatile fluid in heat exchange relation with .the body to be cooled to transfer accumulated cold thereto.

9. The method of cooling a body to be cooled by a natural ultimate cooling medium such as the atmosphere having variations of temperature running below and above the range of desired temperatures for the body to be cooled which comprises condensing a volatile fluid by said medium when the temperature of said medium is below such desired temperatures,'vaporizing said volatile fluid in heat exchange relation with a relatively large amount of substantially stagnant storage material to absorb heat from said storage material, accumulating cold in said storage material, maintaining an accumulation of cold in said storage material while the body to be cooled is of lower temperature than said storage material and transferring cold from said storage material to the body to be cooled when the temperature of the body to be cooled is above the temperature of said storage material.

CARL GEORG MUNTERS. 

